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A Better Way To Use Gmail On A Mac

The list of the largest free email providers is subject to some debate, but what few argue is which email is largest. From everything I’ve found online, the list goes something like this.

Google Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, Apple iCloud, AOL Mail. There might be room for a few Chinese email providers on the list, but I don’t speak Chinese and Google Translate kept turning my searches for information into Greek. If you use Gmail and don’t want Google’s email service to contaminate Mail on your Mac, then you’ll like Mia for Gmail.

Click, Ye Shall Receive

My day job has me answering questions as a system administrator and support technician for a large private school in Chicago, which has hundreds and hundreds of teachers, the vast majority of whom use the school’s email system. Next on their list is Gmail.

Why Gmail? It’s free. Gmail’s spam catchers works well. And nobody seems to mind having a corporate advertising company searching through their email messages. For Mac users who do not want to use an open web browser window or tab to handle Gmail, or Mail, I recommend Mia for Gmail.

Mia is like Mail on your Mac but it’s smaller, lighter, faster, and limited to Gmail. It’s an app and not a browser window and it’s available from within any Mac app you’re using at the moment with a click to the Menubar.

Use Mia to check incoming Gmail messages, compose new messages, and manage multiple Gmail accounts. And do all that without opening up Gmail in a browser window. Mia has a unique notification sound so you know you’ve got new mail (a different sound for each Gmail account would be a huge plus).

Messages can be marked as read, spam, archive, or easily deleted from Gmail. It handles incoming attachments and works over IMAP-SSL which means it relies on Gmail’s new Auth 2.0 user authentication password system.

An earlier version of Mia for Gmail (under a different name) worked well, then did not work as well, but this version is a pleasure to use. Mia has a try-before-you-buy option and is free on the Mac App Store but an in-app purchase upgrades to more features. Note the reviews, too. Older reviews were critical, newer reviews reflect the improvement in the app’s performance.

I understand why people like Gmail, but it’s hard for me to overcome the issue of Google snooping around in my messages just so they can track my online usage and send me more ads tailored for my tastes, based upon my email messages.

Free is free, but somehow that just seems wrong.

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About Natalia Nowak

My husband, Nathan, and I have used Macs for nearly 25 years. We're teachers at a private school in Chicago, IL. I'm also the school's resident Mac system administrator, PC troubleshooter, and a diehard Mac diva and iPhone hacker. Read more of my articles here.

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